RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – Banking technology startup nCino tops the list for places to work in ratings by employees in a review of where tech employees do and don’t like to work while Charter Communications (Spectrum) comes in last among the 20 firms reviewed today.
While based in Wilmington, nCino is growing rapidly with a global reach. The firm, which is nearing “unicorn” status ($1 billion in valuation) impresses its employees enough to receive a 4.4 rating out of 5 at jobs site Glassdoor. Its CEO Pierre Naude shares a near-perfect rating by employees at 99 percent along with Jamie Macdonald of Parexel.
Charter/Spectrum received the lowest rating from employees at 2.6.
With war for tech talent is raging across the Triangle, North Carolina and the US with unemployment rates at record lows and nearly 30,000 open IT jobs in NC alone. So as employees look for jobs they are in the driver’s seat, and they often are looking for more than pay. They want perks. They want a good work environment. Thus comes into play Glassdoor and other sites where employees have their say about their bosses and companies.
Startup Get Spiffy tops latest list, Frontier is last among Triangle tech firms as places to work
In the third of a series, WRALTechwire researched 20 RTP-based companies or those with a growing NC presence and large operations here that have been making news recently – from hiring to layoffs – at Glassdoor to see what their employees were saying. Firms range from new to old, small to large, in transition to reorganizing.
Criteria include:
1. An overall rating system of 1 to 5 stars
2. Approval of the CEO
3. The percentage of employees who would recommend their employer to a friend.
Today’s breakdown
From 1 to 20, here is today’s list
1.nCino, 4.4
2.National Institutes of Health, 4.1
3.Pfizer, 3.9
4. Square 1 Bank (PacWest), 3.8
4.(tie) Syngenta, 3.8
4.(tie) Merck, 3.8
4.(tie) Fidelity Investments, 3.8
8.Smashing Boxes, 3.7
9.Verizon, 3.6
9.(tie) BASF, 3.6
9.(tie) Biogen, 3.6
9.(tie) MetLife, 3.6
13.Lexis Nexis, 3.5
14. AT&T, 3.3
14.(tie) EPA, 3.3
14.(tie) Flexential (formerly Peak 10), 3.3
14.(tie) Toshiba, 3.3
14.(tie) Parexel, 3.3
19. United Therapeutics, 3.0
20, Charter/Spectrum, 2.6
Worst and best places to work in Triangle’s tech hub? Employees have their say …
Here is a breakdown on today’s 20 companies listed in alphabetic order:
- AT&T
Headquarters: Dallas, TX
CEO: Randall L. Stephenson
Employee Reviews
Employee Average Rating: 3.3
Approve of CEO: 52%
Recommend to a Friend: 55%
Senior Member of Technical Staff: $123,973
Select Perks: Employee discounts; Commuter checks and assistance; Legal assistance
- BASF
Headquarters: Florham Park, NJ
CEO: Wayne T. Smith
Employee Reviews
Employee Average Rating: 3.6
Approve of CEO: 90%
Recommend to a Friend: 73%
Project Engineer: $101,397
Select Perks: Employee discounts; Employee assistance program; Gym membership
- Biogen
Headquarters: Cambridge, MA
CEO: Michel Vounatsos
Employee Reviews
Employee Average Rating: 3.6
Approve of CEO: 66%
Recommend to a Friend: 66%
Senior Associate Scientist: $105,177
Select Perks: Employee assistance program; Commuter checks and assistance; Travel concierge
- Environmental Protection Agency
Headquarters: Washington, D.C.
CEO: Andrew Wheeler
Employee Reviews
Employee Average Rating: 3.3
Approve of CEO: 32%
Recommend to a Friend: 54%
Senior Clinical Research Associate: $106,000–$115,000
Select Perks: Free lunch or snacks; Travel concierge; Gym membership
- Fidelity Investments
Headquarters: Boston, MA
CEO: Abby Johnson
Employee Reviews
Employee Average Rating: 3.8
Approve of CEO: 90%
Recommend to a Friend: 78%
Senior Software Engineer: $93,608
Select Perks: Commuter checks and assistance; Employee assistance program; Travel concierge
Workers speak out about their bosses, good and bad – and CEOs are listening
- Flexential (formerly Peak 10)
Headquarters: Charlotte
CEO: Chris Downie
Employee Reviews
Employee Average Rating: 3.3
Approve of CEO: 62%
Recommend to a Friend: 59%
Network Engineer: $77,000
Select Perks: 401K, insurance, PTO
- Lexis Nexis
Headquarters: New York
CEO: Mike Walsh
Employee Reviews
Employee Average Rating: 3.5
Approve CEO: 64%
Recommend to a Friend: 60%
Senior Software Engineer: $11,933
Select Benefit: 18-23 PTO days
- Merck
Headquarters: Kenilworth, NJ
CEO: Kenneth C. Frazier
Employee Reviews
Employee Average Rating: 3.8
Approve of CEO: 84%
Recommend to a Friend: 79%
Senior Member of Technical Staff: $123,973
Select Perks: Employee discounts; Gym membership; Employee assistance program
- MetLife
Headquarters: New York
CEO: Michel Khalaf
Employee Reviews
Employee Average Rating: 3.6
Approve of CEO: 88%
Recommend to a Friend: 67%
Senior Financial Analyst: $78,816
Select Perks: Legal assistance; Gym membership; Travel concierge
- National Institute of Health
Headquarters: Bethesda, MD
CEO: Francis S. Collins
Employee Reviews
Employee Average Rating: 4.1
Approve of CEO: 93%
Recommend to a Friend: 86%
Senior Research Fellow: $94,183
Select Perks: Employee assistance program; Mobile phone discount; Company social events
- nCino
Headquarters: Wilmington, N.C.
CEO: Pierre Naude
Employee Reviews
Employee Average Rating: 4.4
Approve of CEO: 99%
Developer: $98,132
Select Benefit: Work from home option
- Parexel
Headquarters: Waltham, MA
CEO: Jamie Macdonald
Employee Reviews
Employee Average Rating: 3.3
Approve of CEO: 99%
Recommend to a Friend: 50%
Senior Software Engineer: $113,906
Select Perks: Employee assistance program; Company social events; Gym membership
- Pfizer
Headquarters: New York, NY
CEO: Ian Read
Employee Reviews
Employee Average Rating: 3.9
Approve of CEO: 89%
Recommend to a Friend: 80%
Senior Scientist: $113,813
Select Perks: Company social events; Legal assistance; Gym membership
- Smashing Boxes
Headquarters: Durham
CEO: Nick Jordan
Employee Reviews
Employee Average Rating: 3.7
Approve of CEO: 64%
Recommend to a Friend: 67%
Software Developer: $77,254
Selected benefits: Maternity and paternity leave
- Spectrum (Charter Communications)
Headquarters: Stamford, CT
CEO: Thomas M. Rutledge
Employee Reviews
Employee Average Rating: 2.6
Approve of CEO: 4115%
Recommend to a Friend: 35%
Senior Network Engineer: $86,921
Select Perks: Employee discounts; Mobile phone discount; Company social events
- Square 1 Bank (PacWest)
Headquarters: Durham
CEO: Frank Tower
Employee Average Rating: 3.8
Approval of CEO: 70%
Recommend to a friend: 69%
Analyst salary: $56,057
Selected benefits: 401K, 3 weeks PTO
- Syngenta
Headquarters: Basel, Switzerland
CEO: Erik Fyrwald
Employee Reviews
Employee Average Rating: 3.8
Approve of CEO: 82%
Recommend to a Friend: 77%
Creative Director: $153K – $229K
Select Perks: Employee discounts; Gym membership; Company social events
- Toshiba
Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan
CEO: Satoshi Tsunakawa
Employee Reviews
Employee Average Rating: 3.3
Approve of CEO: 88%
Recommend to a Friend: 64%
Senior Software Engineer: $104,135
Select Perks: Employee assistance program; Free lunch or snacks; Commuter checks and assistance
- United Therapeutics
Headquarters: Silverspring, MD
CEO: Martine Rothblatt
Employee Reviews
Employee Average Rating: 3.0
Approve of CEO: 77
Recommend to a Friend: 51%
Senior Systems Engineer: $108K – $143K
Select Perks: Free lunch or snacks; Travel concierge; Gym membership
- Verizon
Headquarters: New York, NY
CEO: Hans Vestberg
Employee Reviews
Employee Average Rating: 3.6
Approve of CEO: 54%
Recommend to a Friend: 66%
Software Engineer: $101,836
Select Perks: Employee discounts; Free lunch or snacks; Gym membership